Kings Battle Back from 21 Down to Defeat Detroit
Mar 1, 2020, 6:57 PM | Updated: 7:10 pm
Photo by Kimani Okearah
Sunday evening’s Kings vs Pistons game inside the Golden 1 Center got off to about as ugly of a start as it could be for Sacramento. Detroit opened up the game outscoring the Kings 18-1 in the first few minutes. The Pistons built up a 21-point lead, but couldn’t hold on as Sacramento came charging back for the 106-100 victory.
“We talked about the dangers of coming back from a long road trip. That’s not how we want to start a ballgame. That’s as bad as we’ve been…” said Kings head coach Luke Walton.
“We definitely need to tighten up. They came out and hit us in the mouth quick,” added Cory Joseph.
“It was tough,” said Harry Giles, “Don’t really know why. Just one of those games where we started off slow”.
Sacramento outscored Detroit 34-20 in the second quarter and 26-19 in the third, leading to their largest lead of the game; 14 points. The Pistons made it interesting towards the end, getting to within three points in the final minute, but the Kings managed to close it out.
Harry Giles and Alex Len both received a lot of praise for their play Sunday. Walton, Joseph, De’Aaron Fox and other Kings players were quick to recognize their energy, which completely changed the game for the better.
Giles provided 12 points and seven rebounds in yet another solid start. Len backed him up with eight points, 13 rebounds and five blocks off the bench.
“We could tell right away with (Len) that he understands the game of basketball. When you join a new team…you have to learn how to play with new guys in terms of strengths and weaknesses. He learned really quick” said Walton.
“I love A-Len,” added Giles, “He’s huge and he’s aggressive too. He got some fight in him”.
Fox led Sacramento in scoring with 23 points, including a welcome 90% from the free-throw line. He also added seven of the Kings 18 assists.
Rebounds were a major game-changer for the Kings, who grabbed 17 offensive rebounds resulting in 18 second-chance points. Fox said that those rebounds, plus the energy of the home crowd, were what led to the comeback win.
As the playoff race continues in the West, Sacramento now sits at 26-34 on the season. They are three games back of the Memphis Grizzlies in the 8th seed, with only the New Orleans Pelicans in-between both teams.
“We just really want to make the playoffs, we are really motivated,” said Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic. “That’s what drives us and that’s what really motivates us every single day. We’re just trying to make it.”
